Although he was feeling somewhat dizzy from the sudden experience gain, Alan ignored his Kill Log for the time being, as well as all of his notifications. There were three more enemies approaching. Slowly but steadily.
He still had a fight on his hands.
Instead of sifting through confusing information screens, he chose to watch the defeated Flan live out its final moments. As the hidden blue Core within its head shed its final drops of fluid, the entire Flan, both body and Core, sank into the ground. The body of the monster was immediately replaced with a small copper colored chest that silently rose up out of the sand covered floor.
Suddenly pushed to the side, the layer of sand covering the box slowly tumbled from the lid of the chest, forming a ridge around the base of the copper box. Alan was staring at the floor, watching this strange sight when he felt [Healing fog] reach the end of its duration, and go into back into cooldown. The end of the Spell prompted another notification to appear in the corner of his vision.
Remarkable! Your Spell (U)[Healing Fog] has grown to Level 2!
With no time to get sidetracked by notifications, Alan dismissed the Skill level notice. Dashing forward, he activated [Examine] while on the move.
(Basic) Dungeon Loot Box- A Dungeon provided reward.
As he read the description Alan placed his hand on the small copper colored chest. The instant his hand touched the lid, a prompt appeared hovering in the air above it.
Caution! Open Loot Box? Yes/No.
Alan selected Yes prompting the eerie box to open. A brief flash of copper tinged light shot out from within the chest, forcing Alan to squint his eyes. As the light faded from view, his rewards were at last revealed.
A small inventory screen appeared, listing the contents of what was inside the small box. Alan found the list contained a (Common) Basilisk Fang Dagger, 200 (Copper Grade) Lotus coins, and a small round copper colored disc stamped with the letters TT.
After storing his dagger and coins in his original storage ring, Alan held the copper disc on his open palm and quickly used [Examine] on it .
(Copper Grade) Tutorial Token- Exchangeable for various rewards at the System Obelisk in the Tutorial Town. Multiple varieties are available ranked from (Copper Grade) to (Gold Grade).
That's nice and all, but what in all the Nine Hells is a 'System Obelisk'? Alan wondered.
With three more Flans steadily approaching, Alan pushed his thoughts aside. Hoping to spread his enemies out a bit, he first cast [Lightning Strike] on the largest Flan located in the rear of his clustered up enemies. Once formed, the summoned bolt of lightning rushed out of the miniature storm cloud and struck the trailing Flan directly on top of its head. The current of energy rushing throughout its frame locked the disturbing eyes in place. When the high voltage current rapidly transformed the top third of its body into a thick encasing of glass, it had no choice but to halt all movement in an attempt to recover.
Next, Alan started casting [Fireball], locking his gaze on the closest Juvenile Flan. With a Whoosh the ball of flames quickly materialized before him. On Alan's command it blasted out and struck the leading flan head-on, exploding into a wave of heat and fury.
Alan quietly observed that the heat from his [Fireball] Spell had not only forced the Flan to retract its eyes into its grainy flesh, but the things 'head' was heated to the point it began to glow orange. Within moments, the Dungeon Born creature had begun sagging under its own weight, melting where it stood.
Wondering what would happen if the superheated sand were to be rapidly cooled, Alan cast [Water Jet], launching it at the rapidly dropping Flan. The second the cool jet of water touched the hot sand, Alan saw an unexpected reaction unfold. The creatures cooking face emitted a loud hiss, and at the same time, the sand forming the top half of its body began to bubble and boil out of control.
The boiling sand monster swiftly lost its cohesion and collapsed into a puddle of burbling wet sand. After scanning left and right for the monster's Core, Alan realized that at some point during the violent boiling, the dark blue, crystalline Core must've become dislodged and fallen to the floor.
It took him a few seconds of searching, but as soon as Alan located the Core, he sprinted towards it. He arrived before his quarry, raised up his leg and brutally stomped down on the Core with everything he had.
Alan's boot dropped like a sledgehammer and crushed the flimsy Core as if it were no more than a tin can, splattering turquoise goo in a wide arc around his foot. The Core's destruction set off another euphoric surge of Experience. For his toil, he also received a kill notice in his recently acquired Kill Log.
As the recently deceased Flan sank into the ground, another copper chest rose to replace it. With two more enemies to go, Alan felt his best bet would be to hold off on opening the chest as well as checking his Kill Log, but found he was curious what the earlier notifications were all about.
Remarkable! Due to your complete lack of self-defense you have acquired the (Common) Skill [How to Take a Punch]!
(C)[How to Take a Punch] Lvl 1- This passive Skill slightly reduces the damage you receive from being punched. Miniscule chance of negating damage entirely.
Damage reduction and chance of damage negation increase with skill level
Remarkable! Your Skill (C)[Throw Weapon] has grown to Level 2!
Remarkable! Your Skill (B)[Dagger Utilization] has grown to Level 2
Remarkable! As the first denizen of the (Human) Tutorial to defeat an enemy more than 5 Levels above your own in single combat you have earned the Title Above Your Weight Class!
Above Your Weight Class- +3 to all Stats, increases damage dealt to entities of a higher Level.
Remarkable! Your Spell (B)[Lightning Strike] has grown to Level 2!
Stolen novel; please report.
A new halfway worthless Skill, Three skill Levels, and a sweet new Title. Alan shrugged, his adrenaline beginning to fade. Eh, not too bad for my first fight I reckon.
Excited by his sudden skill growth, Alan paused with a sudden realization.
Using my Skills and Spells during actual combat leveled them up almost immediately! So the key seems to be fighting.. if I can squeeze in as many Skills and Spells as possible during a fight, can I power-level my abilities?
Ready to do a bit of experimentation, Alan locked his gaze on the as of yet uninjured Juvenile Flan. As it got to within ten feet of Alan, he called up a [Wind blade] and hurled it at the Flan, hoping to execute a long range decapitation. The sharpened boomerang of compressed air struck the Flan, but to Alan's chagrin, it barely penetrated a mere few inches. The low-leveled Spell was proven unable to leave as much as a scratch on its Core.
Alan watched with annoyance as the small dent left by his [Wind Blade] quickly filled in with sand, leaving the beast unmarked once more. Unsure if he caused any damage at all, Alan activated [Examine].
Level 7 Juvenile Desert Flan Hp: 250/250
Not even a single point of damage huh? With eyes shining with anticipation, Alan flashed his foe a devilish grin. Looks like I'm just gonna have to keep crushing Cores. Until I get some better info, I'm running with the assumption that the Core is the actual monster, and the sand is just a vessel that it uses for transportation.
After having slowly learned his enemies strengths and weaknesses by trial and error, Alan had a pretty good idea of these Flans capabilities. While he felt confident in his odds against them, the constant worry that another, more powerful monster could jump out at any minute brought an end to any further attempts at Spell Leveling.
Locking on to the approaching Flan, Alan blasted it in the chest with a well timed [Fireball]. He dismissed another random notification, and was once again surprised by the glaring lack of intelligence shown so far by these Dungeon Born Monsters. Not a single attempt had been made to dodge, or even block, a single one of his attacks. Not in the mood to curse this small bit of good luck, Alan didn't overthink it. Instead as soon as his [Fireball] detonated on the Flan, Alan already had his [Water jet] Spell locked and loaded.
Taking aim at the overheated section of sand Alan released his [Water Jet]. Once again, upon impacting the recently heated portion of the creature, the entire affected area began hissing and boiling, causing its entire torso to twitch violently. As the outer layer of wet sand fell away it allowed the still active [Water jet] to penetrate further into the Flan's grainy 'flesh'.
The constant loss of its sand covering swiftly uncovered the beasts retractable eyes, and not long after, the entire Core had become visible. Fully revealed and with nothing remaining to support its weight, the Core dropped to the ground. When Alan approached the unhoused Core, he watched in disgust as the long, tentacle-like eyeballs extended towards him, studying his every move.
Not even sparing it a second glance, Alan bypassed its eyes and crushed the Core underfoot. The resulting splash of turquoise goo signaled its demise. The expected Kill Log update flashed along with a rush of Experience. Only one more Flan to deal with, and Alan would be able catch his breath.
He was also excited to fully explore his new Kill Log tab.
As soon as the Flan's corpse had been fully absorbed into the floor, the dungeon once again replaced it with a small copper chest. Leaving the chest in place for now, Alan advanced on the final Flan of the group. As this one was Level 8, the highest Level of the group, Alan chose to stick to what he already knew worked and finish it off from afar. The moment he felt the Spells cooldown end, Alan hit the Flan with another [Lightning Strike].
The jolt of electricity impacted the already glassed over layer of sand, causing it to increase even further in thickness. The increase in density allowed wide cracks to form, which quickly became open crevices on its crystalized frame.
Because all of his effective Spells were currently on cooldown, Alan drew his dagger and hurled it at the cracking glass covering the monsters Core. Upon impact, the blade penetrated the hardened sand. The entire top of the Flan shattered like an egg shell, sending jagged slivers of dull amber colored glass flying in all directions.
Now partially exposed, Alan took note that the Core of this Flan was a deep purple, and seemed to be pulsing with its own inner light. Fearing some kind of hidden attack was imminent, Alan cast [Stone Skin]. As soon as the Spell was charged up, he rushed the nearly decapitated monster. Cocking back his arm, and dropping it down low, Alan delivered a devastating uppercut with his rock-encrusted fist, fully drawing on his 12 points of Strength.
His punch landed a little lower than anticipated, but the force of his strike was enough. His fist crashed through the remaining layer of glass still enclosing the pulsing purple Core, which permitted the full force of his fist to land nearly unimpeded.
Alan watched in awe as the impact of his punch caused a wave of force to shoot through the Core's liquid interior. As the wave hit the opposite side of the Core, it ruptured the crystalline surface, causing the viscous purple fluid to spray the wall behind it.
The resulting flash of a Kill Log notice was nearly missed when a jolt of Experience left Alan reeling with a sudden realization. At least for the time being, he was the victor. He might've been out-leveled but still, he'd managed to pull off a win. One final (Basic) chest replaced the corpse of the Level 8 Flan, and Alan immediately touched the top.
A flash of copper light preceded his spoils, something called a (Common) Shadow Shuriken, 250 (Copper Grade) Lotus coins, and a (Copper Grade) Tutorial Token. Once he'd stored his loot, Alan approached the two remaining chests and opened them as well.
The first provided him with another (Common) Shadow Shuriken, 200 (Copper Grade) Lotus coins, and a (Copper Grade) Tutorial Token. The second chest contained a (Basic) Ring of Swiftness, 200 (Copper Grade) Lotus coins, and another (Copper Grade) Tutorial Token. All of which he shoved into his storage ring for future examination.
The dismissed notification was still hovering annoyingly in the corner of his vision, so Alan opened it up and found he was very pleased with the contents.
Remarkable! Your Spell (B)[Fireball] has grown to Level 2!
Alan was wary that there may still be hidden enemies lying in wait around the corner, where the Juvenile Flans had been hiding out. Alan shook out his hands nervously while cautiously approaching the end of the hall, and peeked around the corner. His sight of the path was cut off by a wall six feet in front of him. Sticking his head fully around the bend he noticed the path continued on to the left at a ninety degree angle.
Alan's worries about hidden monsters was immediately proven pointless. The hallway suddenly came to a dead-end twelve feet ahead of him. The only remaining occupant of the dead-end path was a waist-high pedestal, atop which sat a small, greyish metal chest. A quick activation of [Examine] revealed a similar description to the Loot Box he'd found.
(Common) Dungeon Treasure Chest- A Dungeon provided reward.
He wasn't sure what to make of the Dungeon giving out a sudden, free gifts. Expecting the worse, Alan began inspecting the walls and ceiling for traps. He wasn't able to spot anything out of place at first, but as his gaze passed over the pedestal, he happened to notice one of the steam-valve traps. As soon as he noticed the trap, another notification flashed.
Remarkable! Due to your sharp attention to detail you have acquired the (Common) Skill [Trap Detection]!
(C)[Trap Detection] Lvl 1- Upon Activation, this Skill provides a small chance to detect various forms of traps. Chances of detecting traps increases with Skill Level.
A DUNGEON REWARD?! I KNEW that shit had to be a set-up! I hate this fucking place... Alan scrunched his eyes in thought, as he stared at the so-called reward.
Embedded between the chest and the pedestal, aimed directly towards the face of anyone who happened to be standing in front of it, the steam-trap would've been difficult to notice if Alan hadn't already seen several in the past hour. As he wasn't currently in the mood to get blasted in the face by a random trap, he approached the chest from the right side instead.
Standing at the side of the chest, Alan found there weren't any further traps visibly apparent. With his angle of approach relatively clear, he placed his hand gently on the lid of the iron chest, and when the screen appeared, he selected Yes, prompting it to open. A grey flash of light from the chest was quickly followed by a burst of steam that launched a six inch long metal spike out of the steam-valve sitting beneath the chest. The metal spike hit the opposite wall with a Thud, packing enough force to be driven over an inch into the solid sandstone wall.
Wary of any further projectiles, Alan cautiously peered into the iron chest and was greeted with a gorgeous pair of boots made of strangely soft, deep blue scales and supple leather. Using [Examine] on the boots did not leave Alan disappointed.
(Uncommon) Wasteland Tortoise Scale Boots- High quality leather and scale boots painstakingly crafted from the remains of an Adult Wasteland Tortoise and Enchanted with both the Auto-cleanse and Self-repair Enchantments. +2 Constitution, +1 Agility.
Set bonus: +5 Constitution, +5 Vitality, +3 Agility, +2 Strength.
His new boots were undoubtedly better than the ones on his feet, but Alan remained hesitant to equip them. If only because he would lose the Set Bonus already being provided by his Tutorial starter gear. Instead, he placed his Wasteland Tortoise Boots into his Inventory with the thought of locating the rest of the set.
Alan slowly crept around the pedestal while making sure to stay out of range of any further steam-powered projectiles. He cautiously retreated into the previous corridor, eagerly awaiting the opportunity to review his Kill Log, new Basilisk dagger and most of all, the Shadow Shurikens.